April 1954

The following events occurred in April 1954:

April 1, 1954 (Thursday)

• The U.S. Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorize the founding of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
• South Point School (India) is founded and becomes the largest school in the world by 1992.
• The new Cardiff Airport in Rhoose opens to the public after operations were transferred from RAF Pengam Moors

April 3, 1954 (Saturday)

• Vladimir Petrov defects from the Soviet Union and asks for political asylum in Australia.

April 4, 1954 (Sunday)

• The legendary symphony conductor Arturo Toscanini experiences a lapse of memory during a concert. At this concert's end, his retirement is announced, and Toscanini never conducts in public again.

April 7, 1954 (Wednesday)

• Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.

April 8, 1954 (Thursday)

• A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Air Lines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
• Born:Gary Carter, American baseball player (d. 2012)
• Died:Fritzi Scheff, actress & singer (b. 1879)

April 9, 1954 (Friday)

• French Premier Joseph Laniel warns that the People's Republic of China must stop sending aid to the Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries during the First Indochina War.^[1]

April 10, 1954 (Saturday)

• Died:Auguste Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1862)

April 11, 1954 (Sunday)

• This day is denoted as the "most boring day" in the 20th century by True Knowledge, an answer engine developed by William Tunstall-Pedoe. No significant newsworthy events, births, or deaths are known to have happened on this day.^[2]

April 12, 1954 (Monday)

• Died:Luis Cabrera Lobato, Mexican lawyer, politician and writer (b. 1876)

April 13, 1954 (Tuesday)

• Died:Angus L. Macdonald, Nova Scotia Premier (b. 1890)

April 14, 1954 (Wednesday)

• Aneurin Bevan resigns from the British Labour Party's "Shadow Cabinet".
• A Soviet spy ring in Australia is unveiled.

April 15, 1954 (Thursday)

• Died:Ülo Altermann, Estonian soldier and forest brother (b. 1923)

April 16, 1954 (Friday)

• Vice President Richard Nixon announces that the United States may be “putting our own boys in Indochina regardless of Allied support”

April 17, 1954 (Saturday)

• Born:Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler (d. 2015)
• Died:Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian communist activist and sociologist (b. 1900)

April 18, 1954 (Sunday)

• Famous people born on this day include Kim Stone and Sylvie Abraham.^[3]

April 22, 1954 (Thursday)

• Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.

April 26, 1954 (Monday)

• An international conference on Korea and Indo-China opens in Geneva.
• Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is released in Japan.

April 28, 1954 (Wednesday)

• U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles accuses Communist China of sending combat troops to Indo-China to train the Viet Minh guerrillas
• Died:Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)

April 29, 1954 (Thursday)

• Died:
  • Kathleen Clarice Groom, British writer (b. 1872)
  • Joe May, Austrian-born director (b. 1880)

References